


you can sing for me instead

by nsykdk



Series: subahokke week 2020 [6]
Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, SubaHokkeWeek2020, Suicide Attempt, but nobody dies, hokuto is not knowledgeable about human culture at all, human subaru, merfolk hokuto, mermaid au, there's kissing at the end, we account for inaccuracies between languages using magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:33:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24640933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nsykdk/pseuds/nsykdk
Summary: There's usually a song, a beautiful song that floats through the ocean.On this moon, the sea sings to him,I don't want to sing any more.[ subahokke week 2020 day 6 || beach ]
Relationships: Akehoshi Subaru/Hidaka Hokuto
Series: subahokke week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781359
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	you can sing for me instead

**Author's Note:**

> for subahokke week day 6, prompt beach! the full list of prompts can be found [here on twitter](https://twitter.com/subahokkeweek) and it's run by my good friend mao! [they're on ao3 here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/winter_mao_flower)
> 
> THIS WAS HARD... especially the theme in this one... but i hope i did it and the prompt justice...  
> mermaid aus are really nice to think of but they often tend to feel repetitive with the plot... so i hope it doesn't feel too bad with this one? i found the idea of subaru being really lost and unsure of himself, and his tendency to simply give up and twisted it into this... i suppose i've never written anything like this before, either, so i think it was rather difficult? i took inspiration from [this fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2781740) a little loosely, and i'd rec it if you're into haikyuu!  
> anyway. i hope this reads like a song; it's quite an interesting piece imo! though, if you're triggered by suicide, please exercise caution because it does appear here

There's usually a song, a beautiful song that floats through the ocean.

The first time Hokuto hears this song, he's hooked; caught like the unlucky ones, forcibly drawn to the surface with a hook on his heart. After all, once merfolk hear a mating call that tugs at their heartstrings, they're tugged towards it like a lifeline; an uncontrollable urge that pains the heart if left alone. And he'd swam, away from the nest and up to the surface, and it had resounded so beautifully over the waves in an ethereal language like the warm currents of the ocean. He'd wondered what sort of merfolk would come to the surface to sing their mating call, one so beautiful that it _had_ to be his.

He'd returned to the nest later that moonfall with his heart in his throat and a sinking feeling to the depths of his stomach. But he'd returned, every night, to the surface to hear the song, floating on the gentle waves.

On this moon, the sea sings to him, _I don't want to sing any more._

It comes as a rush, screeching dissonant in his eardrums. An overwhelming sense of _fear_ washes over Hokuto's body and he freezes, because the voice that calls to him in broken Mer is one that is familiar to the ends of the sea. The anguishing cry of terror sings to him, wailing and screeching; gut-wrenchingly horrifying.

Without a second thought, Hokuto follows it.

The sea is dark, but the screams, the cacophony of wails ringing through the waves are like a beacon. The sound of fear, reaching out for anything to hold on to- and then it disappears, just like that, and there's silence again.

Hokuto reaches his hand out and brushes against something; feels fingers slip just through his grasp. 

A human.

_"If you ever encounter a human, always keep their head under the water. They need air to breathe-"_

Hokuto grasps the human's hand, and pulls.

A flick of his tail takes them to the surface, the body clasped safely in Hokuto's arms. Keeping the human's head above the waves, Hokuto makes his way towards the sandy shore in slow pushes of his tail, riding along the gentle currents.

He's panting by the time they reach the shore, arms aching from exertion. The strange pieces of cloth hanging off the human's body are surprisingly heavy, and Hokuto cannot fathom _why_ anyone would put such a thing on their body, especially anything that's as heavy as a rock.

"Humans are stupid," he mutters, dragging the body up onto the sand and away from the waves. It doesn't move at all, not even when he prods and pokes at it.

Dead. What a waste of his precious time and effort.

Hokuto is about to head back into the water when the body _lurches_ , spluttering and coughing onto the sand.

Huh, Hokuto thinks, _not_ dead.

A hand grabs weakly at his wrist. "Who... who are you? Why did you save me?"

Everything Hokuto has been taught _screams_ at him to leave while he can. But yet, something stops him from moving, even though he wills his body to return to safety under the water. He's strong, much stronger than this human; he could easily slip out of their grasp and-

And he really should have thought about this clearly in retrospect; if he had, he'd probably have noticed that humans don't speak Mer.

"You were crying," he says, quietly, and immediately berates himself for opening his mouth.

"You can speak Japanese?" The human's grip tightens, eyes widening. "That's so cool! And- oh- you have a _tail?"_

Hokuto narrows his eyes. "I don't know what Japanese is. I'm speaking Mer."

"Well, you're speaking fluent Japanese to me, and I understand everything you're saying," the human says in perfect Mer, shrugging and smiling like he hadn't been sinking in the ocean, seemingly dead, for the past while. "D'you have a name? I'm Akehoshi Subaru!"

A flush rises to Hokuto's cheeks as his gaze flickers to see the human - Subaru - gazing intently at him with a muted wonder in his eyes. He's never been so close to a human before; after all, he's been taught to never go close to the shore, but somehow, Hokuto doesn't sense an ill intention from him.

And, he adds, as an afterthought, this is the human whose song belongs to him; the human who has been calling for him. The human whose life he'd saved without a second thought.

So, he says, "...Hokuto."

"Hokuto," Subaru says, and the Mer rolls off his tongue almost perfectly, like magic. "In Japanese, you know, that's the name of a constellation!"

"What's a- a con... consth..." The sounds are unfamiliar to Hokuto, lips pursed in a frown as he tries again. "A consthe..."

Subaru laughs, and it rings crisp in the air. "A constellation. You see those lights up there?" He points up at the multitude of glittering lights in the dark sky. "Those are stars! And if you put them together, you get constellations!"

"I really like the stars," Subaru continues, "since they're super sparkly! I loooove sparkly things!"

Hokuto props himself up on the sand, slowly lifting his eyes to the stars in the sky. The water laps gently at his tail, washing over him in calming, soothing waves. For a moment, the silence is everything; quiet and peaceful, save for the heartbeat of the sea.

"Hey, you said you saved me because I was crying?" His voice takes on a low, quiet tone, unlike the brightly awestruck one of earlier. When Hokuto looks at him, he has his legs tucked close to his body; hunched and curled up tightly. "I-"

"The sea," Hokuto interjects, remembering the way it'd screamed and roiled and wailed; the way he'd been tugged towards Subaru's body even in the murky darkness. "It told me you didn't want to sing any more."

"Oh." It's the smallest sound, barely audible over the sound of the waves gently lapping at the shore. "Really?"

"You were always singing, weren't you?"

Arms snake gently around Hokuto's waist instead of replying, and a cold nose comes into contact with his shoulder. It's strange and awkward - perhaps, Hokuto thinks, this is some sort of human gesture? 

"Um," Hokuto says, confused, "what are you doing? And why is there water coming out of your eyes?"

"Those are tears, and I'm _crying_ ," Subaru huffs, but a soft chuckle escapes his lips a moment later as Hokuto awkwardly puts his arms around Subaru's cold body. "It means I'm sad and overwhelmed."

"Why are you sad?" The question comes out softer than Hokuto intends, like the words are caught in his throat and won't come out.

Subaru breathes out, lips pressed to Hokuto's shoulder weakly. His voice is choked and strained when he speaks, whispered to the sea; his arms squeezing tight around Hokuto. "I was... I was going to kill myself. I would have died if you didn't save me."

"I... I always wanted to be an idol, you know? So I c-could sing and dance and make lots of people happy. But nobody ever wanted to listen to me, and nobody wanted to be my friend, and nobody- nobody wanted to s-sing with me." He sniffles, voice watery. "I just- I just...!"

The sea screams with him, desperate and heart-wrenching. _"I just wanted to sing...!"_

And Subaru cries.

He cries, sobs wracking and shaking his body; loud and despairing into the empty night. He screams and yells and shouts until he doubles over in coughs, tears streaming down his cheeks, and Hokuto holds him gently, quietly, delicately; so his breaking body doesn't crumble away into nothingness.

He cries until the tears don't come any more, heaving and sobbing dry into Hokuto's shoulder, and then he cries some more, teeth gritted, indignant tears glistening but not falling, until he finally falls silent to the sound of the lapping waves and the feeling of hands digging harshly into skin.

"If nobody will listen to you, you can sing for me instead." Hokuto lets the proposal sit gently in the gap between them, washing over Subaru's shivering body like the clear water on the sand.

"Th- thank you," Subaru whispers, after a shuddering sob, "thank you for saving me."

Hokuto's song doesn't have words. Perhaps it's because he knows they don't _need_ words; because he trusts that Subaru will understand with just a melody, because no words can convey the feeling buried in his song. He sings to the sky and the stars and the sea, allows the notes to flow from within and across the waves; lets it gently settle between the strange gaps between Subaru's fingers and in the silence between breaths. He sings because nothing else seems to be the right thing to do as he cradles Subaru in his arms.

And slowly, with a broken, quiet voice still choked with tears, the whisper of a harmony floats into the melody.

Subaru's voice is hoarse from crying, but he sings, gently, blinking the last of his tears from puffy bloodshot eyes away. And it's perfect, just like Hokuto had thought - interweaving beautifully into a song that fills the shore with a harmonic warmth.

Their song dies out in unison, quietly coming to an end in harmony, its last note ringing just perfectly over the dawning ocean.

"Hey," Subaru breathes, tears gone and replaced with a gentle smile, "d'you think its possible to fall in love with someone you've just met?"

"Mm," Hokuto replies, watching as the first rays of morning sunlight chase away the stars. "Merfolk can fall for just a song without meeting the one singing."

(And, really, he's the one who'd fallen for that song. He's the one caught on the hook; mesmerised all those days ago.)

Subaru giggles, the first sound of delight that seems to fill the sky with brightness. "You're really pretty, you know?"

Slowly, Subaru dips close, pressing his lips right against Hokuto's gently, drawing back into a brilliant smile. The sunrise dyes his hair a fiery golden, and Hokuto sees his eyes for the first time: a beautiful blue like the sea, cheeks spotted with-

"Freckles," he laughs, as Hokuto runs a finger over the spots curiously, and finds a smile worming its way to his own lips.

Instead, Hokuto leans over and gives him a kiss, gently brushing his nose against the strange human fin jutting out from behind those curious sun-coloured locks.

Subaru touches his fin gently as Hokuto draws back. "What's that?"

"A kiss," Hokuto explains, to Subaru's amusement, who presses his mouth against Hokuto's again. "What?"

"This is how humans do it," Subaru whispers, laughing gently as he kisses Hokuto's fins with his lips, fingers toying with his hair, undoing the braid so it cascades down his shoulders and onto the sand. "With our mouths."

He smiles, brightly, like the sun rising behind him. "I'm glad you saved me, Hokuto."

**Author's Note:**

> there are no EARS in merfolk culture they have fins for ears and i think it's really funny how hokke just doesn't know how to deal with ears
> 
> twitter [@subahokke](https://twitter.com/subahokke)


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